I have come to realize that there are a lot of people out there that have a skewed view of the world and beliefs. I have encountered these viewpoints from those who have responded to my previous journal entries and from those I know personally. They seem to be very upset that I would even consider Christianity to be the only truth and not accept other religions as being true as well. As a Christian, I take the Bible at face value and as a whole. I do not believe bits and pieces that I find to be acceptable to me. I take it ALL as Truth and totally consistant. Sometimes, the Bible shows me my faults. Does that mean I disown those verses? No, I take them to be all Truth because I believe the Bible to be the Word of God. God has shown me, through His Word, that I am sometimes wrong and need to make some changes. I accept that. Yet, those that disagree with me seem to have a relativistic and pluralistic point of view.

Relativism is “A theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.” This means that nothing is true except that which is true to me. In this thought pattern, everything has the ability to be true based upon my viewpoint of it. This tends to be the agnostic view of religion. It’s the viewpoint that nothing can really be known about God, so one cannot make any decisions regarding religion. Pluralism is “A condition in which numerous distinct ethnic, religious, or cultural groups are present and tolerated within a society.” This viewpoint accepts all world views and considers all to be equal.

What I cannot accept is the belief that all religions are true because they contradict one another in certain ways. If you believed that contradicting views were all truth, then nothing would in actuality be true at all. I cannot believe that fire will burn me when I stick my finger into it and at the same time believe it won’t. It makes no sense. That is why Pluralism and Relativism make little sense in relation to religion.

I am not saying that I refuse to listen to the beliefs of other people or am intolerant of anyone that does not believe what I believe. What I am saying is that we cannot all agree. If we did, as many wish we would, there would be peace. I believe peace is only going to come when Jesus returns to Earth and takes believers to Heaven for eternity. There will not be peace before that time, no matter how hard people try. I am willing to listen to other beliefs, but I cannot accept them all to be true. Just as I cannot accept shooting up heroin to be good for me, I cannot accept Jesus as not being God. That would go against my moral and religious fibers. I know that Jesus is God. How? From my own experiences with God and by Him speaking to me. Just as someone knows they need to breathe, eat and drink water to survive, I know that Jesus is God. It’s just natural for me. It makes sense. It’s what I know to be True. It’s not just something I’ve learned or that has been ingrained in me. I know it personally.

So, when I get emails from people telling me that what I believe cannot be classified as the only Truth, I have to ask why. Obviously, they have not found the Truth for themselves or else they would know. They haven’t even figured out what they believe, so how can they tell me what I can and cannot believe? Those who are absolutely certain that their faith is the right one would probably agree that we cannot all accept one another’s beliefs to be true. Jews don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah. Christians do. Muslims believe Mohammed to be a prophet. Buddhists don’t. There can’t be a complete common ground without compromising some of your beliefs. If you’re grounded in your faith, you shouldn’t be willing to do that.

I do believe that we can get along in some respects. We can try to work together to lessen tension between groups and be willing to listen. Yet, we cannot have the perspective that we must all agree. That would be where the disagreements would begin. I would encourage those who aren’t sure what is true…to study. Figure out what makes sense and what doesn’t. If you are willing to find the Truth, you will. Don’t be on the fence trying to accept everything under the sun. The Unitarian Universalist viewpoint just doesn’t cut it.

Please also see an additional apologetics article that I found.